Issue: March 2023

The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) has adopted reduced catch limits totaling 38.34 million pounds coastwide, a reduction of 10.3% or 4.25 million pounds of the popular white fish. The action came at this past week’s annual meeting of the IPHC in Vancouver, B.C. and included new restrictions on the charter halibut fishery quotas in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska. Kurt Iverson, a fishery management specialist with NOAA Fisheries in Juneau, said surveys showed 18% fewer fish coastwide, with the catch-per-unit effort (CPUE) declining by 15%. Area 3A in the Central Gulf of Alaska, historically the largest area in terms of biomass, was the hardest hit, with its allowable catch dropping by 17%, or 2.47 million pounds. Last year’s total constant exploitation yield (TCEY) or ...

Legislation introduced in Congress by two California Democrats in late January would permanently ban oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington. The West Coast Ocean Protection Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D-Calif.), would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to permanently prohibit offshore drilling off the coasts of all three states for the protection of marine ecosystems. Huffman and Feinstein said according to recent polling by the Public Policy Institute of California, nearly 70% of Californians oppose offshore drilling. “Offshore drilling poses unacceptable risks, and the science and public opinion are clear: we should not put our oceans and fisheries, coastal comm...

A final determination released in late January by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding plans for a proposed mine adjacent to the Bristol Bay watershed in Southwest Alaska favors protections for the huge run of wild sockeye salmon and a multi-million-dollar fisheries economy. The EPA said its determination would protect waters important to sustaining the area’s salmon resources from disposal of dredged or fill materials associated with the copper, gold and molybdenum Pebble deposit that a Canadian mining firm wants to develop. The battle over the proposed development has been ongoing for two decades. “EPA has determined that specific discharges associated with developing the Pebble deposit will have unacceptable and adverse effects on certain salmon fishery areas in the ...

Washington State’s Department of Ecology has fined Trident Seafoods Corp. $25,000 for a February 2021 hydraulic oil spill into Tacoma’s Commencement Bay following a fire onboard Trident’s fish processor Aleutian Falcon. Trident is being fined for spilling oil, water negligence and not properly reporting a vessel emergency. According to a Department of Ecology report issued in mid-January, the Aleutian Falcon caught fire while docked for maintenance. Repair work ignited a wooden bulkhead and other materials. As the fire spread, hydraulic hoses on a crane were damaged, causing an estimated 20 to 30 gallons of hydraulic oil, mixed with firefighting water, to spill to the Hylebos Waterway. The spill was contained by a boom surrounding the vessel. The state report said other hazardous mate...

Two research scientists with extensive backgrounds in crab fisheries said in January that they’re bent on unlocking new information in the coming months to help better track the future for Alaska king crab and snow crab fisheries currently foundering in a multi-million-dollar collapse. Research plans for 2023 call for a range of activities from satellite tagging at density centers to pot lifts and more collaboration with the crab industry, said Scott Goodman, executive director of the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation (BSFRF), and president of Natural Resources Consultants in Seattle. The volatile Bering Sea crab fisheries, with a history of highs and lows, are currently for the most part in collapse. They peaked with a 130-million-pound red king crab harvest in 1980, then closed...

The f/v Ramblin’ Rose is shown here docked at Pier 39 in Astoria prior to the start of the 2023 Dungeness crab season on the north Oregon coast on Feb. 1. The boat had a full load of 800 Dungeness crab pots to drop for two local license holders who run their own smaller boats once the harvest begins. The crew are shown loading bait shortly before departing.  Oregon Fish and Wildlife had originally predicted an opening date of Dec. 1, but that was delayed after tests showed crabs had too little meat yield as well as elevated levels of domoic acid. Last year, this fishery generated about $170 million, making it the biggest earner for the West Coast commercial fishing fleet. The Ramblin’ Rose was built in 1990 by Giddings Boatworks in Charleston, Oregon. It has a length of 92.4 feet and...

Following a five-year ban on commercial aquarium fishing off West Hawaii, the state land board has regained the authority to consider issuing new permits. On Jan. 30, Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree lifted an injunction in a case filed by opponents of commercial aquarium fishing. The order had prohibited the issuance or renewal of aquarium fish permits to commercial collectors pursuant to Hawaii law regarding the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area (WHRFMA). However, an injunction concerning the issuance or renewal of aquarium fish permits in the rest of the Hawaii remains in effect, and aquarium fish collecting remains banned everywhere else besides West Hawaii. The state legislature is considering a bill to make a statewide ban permanent. During the January lega...

A report from the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) says thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency may play an important role in poor returns of western Alaska Chinook salmon. The report in the January 2023 edition of the NPAFC newsletter notes that thiamine deficiency causes abnormal neuromuscular signs and mortality in fish consuming diets lacking thiamine or containing thiaminase, an enzyme that destroys thiamine. The thiaminase enzyme has been found in high levels in certain small pelagic forage fishes that are common prey for juvenile and maturing Chinook. Diets high in thiaminase have been shown to be associated with depressed thiamine concentrations in the predator species, says the article’s author, research biologist Wesley Strasburger of the Alaska Fisheries Science Cent...

Commercial fisheries harvesters are praising a Biden administration decision reinstating the Roadless Rule for the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska as an important move to protect wild salmon habitat, while Alaska’s governor criticized the decision. “Our fisheries depend on healthy habitat and with climate change driving ocean warming, protecting habitat is increasingly important to the fish, the fisheries and the coastal fishing communities,” said Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka. “This is welcome news.” The governor called the move by the White House bad for the state’s economy. “This decision is a huge loss for Alaskans, and it’s yet another way the Biden administration is singling out Alaska,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy s...